Invading Darkness
by Clary Mikealson
Summary: All hell break lose when a new threat, worst than Orochimaru, arrives in the form of demons. And what's this: They're the reason Itachi killed his clan! (SasuSaku, other pairings possible) Will get violent later on.
1. Default Chapter

**Invading Darkness**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, it's characters of anything else you recognize from the series. I don't make money out of this either, so that's it.

_Okay, so you'll see that a certain character will be actiong OOC in this chapter. It's normal and he'll be less in the next ones. If changes come in personalities of the characters, it'll be gradual. I just had to do it this way for everything to work out…and if you take the whole situation, it's somehow understandable. _

****

**Chapter 1**

The full moon gently shined upon the village of the Leaf, accompanied by numerous stars. Silence reigned on the calm and clear night, leaving an impression of peace. A this late hour, only the village's sentries were still awake and they respected the stillness and silence of the night. They kept watchful eyes upon their home village, hoping nothing would come to disturb this peace that could only last during nighttimes these days.

However, they were blind to shadow lurking amongst the shadows of the trees. It stopped near the outer wall that protected the Leaf, careful to stay hidden from the sentries' watch. If you looked carefully and for a little while, you could make out the general form of a human wearing a cloak, kneeling on the branch of a large tree. The silhouette stood there contemplating the village for a few minutes, contemplating the village and, perhaps, planning an infiltration.

"I can't believe this whole mess." One of the sentries closest to the shadow told his partner as he puffed on his cigarette. "The Cloud allying with the Sound!"

The potential intruder listened distantly to the conversation as it remained where it was, lost in his or her thoughts.

"It's not war yet, so calm down." The other ninja replied. "I doubt the Raikage would really trust the Sound and ally his village with theirs. I mean, he knows how it turned out for the Sand. I'm sure he just wanted to try and shake the Hokage into accepting his offer."

The shadow let out a dry chuckle barely audible that was never heard by the busy sentries and finally moved closer to the very wall the sentries guarded. He stopped just beside the wall and made some quick hand seals, creating a shadow clone. He made some other seals and the clone transformed into a cat. It jumped on the wall between the two guards, hissing. As they stared at it, surprised, the silhouette jumped inside the village and as soon as he was done, the cat jumped back in the forest, disappearing after leaving the sentries' sight.

"What the heck!" one of the sentries exclaimed.

"Let's keep the fact that we were surprised by a cat to ourselves, okay?" the other said, earning an affirmative nod from the other ninja.

Inside the wall, the intruder landed roughly on its feet, letting out a muffled pained, muffled, cry. The cloaked ninja got up, looking around to be sure to have been unseen and unheard. The pain and exhaustion dulled senses and abilities, that was an inescapable fact. Soon, it began to move deeper in the town, careful to remain in the concealing shadows.

Soon, a few voices were heard and the intruder became still and alert. Three teenagers turned the near corner and walked towards the unknown ninja's hiding spot.

"I can't believe you guys went on for this long! It was completely useless too, since it was a draw." A girl the stranger rapidly identified as Haruno Sakura exclaimed angrily. "And I had to wait for you two in case one of you got hurt."

"But Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied in a pleading way, also recognized by the intruder. "I couldn't let that bastard win and think he's better than me."

"The way I remember it, the last time we seriously fought I won." The third teenager, Sasuke, replied calmly without looking at Naruto.

"You were using that stupid curse you had! So that doesn't count." Naruto replied, glaring at his friend.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, his pace quickening so that he was slightly in front of his friends.

"You had to bring that up, eh?" Sakura asked somewhere between anger and desperation.

"Sorry." He whispered. "Hey, Sasuke! You better train a lot because I want to have a real match with you and I hope for a good challenge."

A ray of moonlight shown on the intruder for a moment when the wind made the tree that hid him move slightly. It was just enough to show the shadow of a smile playing on the corner of the mouth that was mainly the only feature the cloak's hood let show.

"Yes. Train hard." The intruder whispered, his voice betraying his male gender, as the three ninjas walked away from him.

Once they were out of sight, he began moving again. However, he let a small puddle of blood where he had stood and a bloody mark on the wall he had been pressed upon.

* * *

Shizune was woken up by a what she thought was a knock on the door. She sleepily got up and came out of her room. Tsunade seemed to have done the same, but from the loud crash that erased all sleepiness from Shizune's mind meant she had slammed the door open. The Hokage's assistant looked at the broken door and than at Tsunade who was doing the same.

"What time is it, Shizune?" Tsunade asked, grumpily.

"I don't know, but it's still night, Tsunade-sama." Shizune answered carefully.

The younger woman went to the door, unlocked it and opened it. She let out a gasp, took a step back and stood ready to fight. Tsunade reacted to her assistant's actions and rushed to see what was going on, also ready to fight.

In the doorstep, stood a cloaked figure that staggered slightly and held itself on the doorway with a blood stained hand. Tsunade relaxed slightly, but remained careful. She stepped in front of Shizune and gave the stranger a commanding glare.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she asked, wondering if an intruder could have passed unseen by the sentinels posted on the walls.

"Hokage-sama?" the cloaked man asked in a raspy, unemotional,voice. "I come hear to warn you of a threat and…"

The man stopped and hunched slightly forward, obviously in pain. He took a deep breath and straightened up slightly.

"And to propose a temporary alliance to fight it." He finished.

"Who sends you? And what makes you believe we can't take care of it without your help." Tsunade asked, ignoring Shizune who now looked worriedly at the stranger who was apparently injured and extremely tired.

"I came to the closest village. You can't…We could only kill a few and wound some of them. Even we had casualties." He was leaning more and more heavily on the doorway as he spoke. "I didn't get any orders, but I know when a situation is desperate enough to seek help."

With a some effort, he stood up straight and pulled off the hood of his cloak. The first thing that caught Tsunade's attention was his red eyes, his Sharingan eyes. Her eyes turned harder and Shizune got ready to fight once more.

"Uchiha Itachi." Tsunade stated coldly.

"Hokage-sama…They're not even human." He told her, his exhaustion showing in his expression. "The Akatsuki doesn't even know I'm here. I saw some of them before. They wanted…I had to…"

Sadness flashed on his features for a moment, then the young man staggered and held himself on the doorway again. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was once again as emotionless as usual.

"Who and what are you talking about?" Tsunade asked, now somewhat alarmed, especially because of the little outburst of emotion she had witnessed. It's not everyday a S-rank criminal came back to his village to warn them of a threat and propose to work together.

"Demons. I don't know what they're called, but they're dangerous." Itachi said, opening his cloak with one of his hands.

By doing so, he revealed a good number of deep looking wounds that were barely bandaged and some that weren't at all. Shizune let out an exclamation of surprise and Tsunade couldn't prevent her shock to show on her face.

"And you fought them before?" she managed to ask.

"No." he said, letting the cloak fall back. "I didn't really fight. I…I destroyed what they were after so they left." He explained calmly.

"What they were after?" Shizune questionned.

Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, letting out an empty chuckle. Both woman frowned at the criminal's strange behaviour. He looked at Shizune without any emotion other than exhaustion.

"They wanted the power some people possessed." He said. "If they got their claws on it, they would have become too strong."

"You killed them all!" the Hokage's assistant exclaimed.

"When was that?" Tsunade asked. She knew she shouldn't just stand there talking to Uchiha Itachi as if he was trustworthy, but if they had been able to injure him this much, she had to know. Maybe she should send Shizune to get some jounins or ANBU. "Were you still a Leaf ninja? If so, there should be records and…"

"There aren't any and most who knew are now dead."

"You killed them…" Shizune whispered.

The young man suddenly collapsed on to his knees, letting out a growl. Both women almost moved to catch him, but kept themselves from actually doing it. He could still be dangerous.

"Yes." Itachi replied, his eyes moving to look at her directly, making her start.

"The whole clan." He added in a barely audible whisper. "There was no other choice. All who possessed it had to die…"

Tsunade frowned while Shizune let out a gasp as she understood he spoke of his clan. There it was again, she could feel sadness in his voice. It was so very subtle, but it was there. It may have been her imagination, buts he was sure a Hyuuga would tell her that it wasn't.

"Then why did you leave one to live?" She asked harshly, kneeling to be on his level as to hear him better.

Itachi turned his emotionless gaze to her and remained silent for a moment. He turned his gaze to look outside and then back at her.

"Because it was him." He simply said, as if it was obvious. "I thought he'd become strong enough to fight them if he could kill me…and…"

He closed his eyes and let out a short, empty, laugh.

"You're here to kill him?" Shizune asked, worried.

"No. It's useless now." He said, obviously starting to give in to the exhaustion and loss of blood.

"Why tell us this?" Tsunade wondered.

"I want to fight on your side against the monster who forced me to destroy _his_ life." He replied weakly as he fainted and was caught by her.

_Less OOCness next time, promise!_

_Please review, but don't flame...please._


	2. Chapter 2

**Invading Darkness**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, it's characters of anything else you recognize from the series. I don't make money out of this either, so that's it.

_**THE SETTING:** Okay, I obviously forgot to state this in my first chapter. This is happening after the current timeline. Sasuke has eventually been brought back to Konoha(the Leaf). More details about this will probably be given within the story. _

_Currently, I've read up to chapter 253 and I respect what happened in them. When new chapters come out, I'll probably go with them, unless it negates something that I did/said or planned…in that case, I'll put a note in the newest chapter saying in turned AU and why exactly. _

_Naruto and the others are about 15-16 years old. (So Itachi is 20-21 years old, if I'm not mistaking)_

**Son of Darkness:**Thanks a lot! I'll try to keep it as good, though I may not always be bale to update as frequently. I'll try my best however. I did try to do something that hadn't been done too often…and looks like I made it. YAY! As for the Mangekyou…I imagine you mean to bring it in relation to the demons, right? Well, you'll see…okay, I admit I haven't thought much about it, but I will now that you mentioned it. lol

**Chapter 2**

The sun's first rays of light were starting to shine upon the waking village of the Leaf as Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto sat near the great doors that marked the exit of that very village. Sakura stood near the door, looking impatiently around, while Naruto sat on the ground and Sasuke leaned on the wall beside the large wooden door.

Naruto let out a long and loud yawn and let himself fall backwards, laying on the ground. Sakura looked at him absently, not having the heart to really disapprove of his behaviour since she felt like doing the same. Her gaze traveled away from the blond boy to Sasuke. Feeling her gaze upon him, he looked up at her and she simply smiled, trying her best to look natural. Even though it had been two months since he had come back, she was just as happy to see him everyday then she had been the day of his return.

Sasuke looked at her for a few seconds without any perceivable reaction and finally lifted one of the corners of his mouth in a barely visible grin. He did try to be a little nicer to her and the ones who had come for him, but you had to know him to truly see that he was. Sakura was satisfied with his almost invisible reaction. After all, it was the equal of a friendly smile coming from the her friend.

She realized his gaze turned to something behind her and turned to see what it was. All of her earlier frustration came back as she saw their team leader, Kakashi. He was walking slowly towards them and held a hand up to greet them.

"I'm sorry I'm so late. You see, there was this old lady with a…" he began, but stopped as Sakura sent him a death glare.

"We were supposed to leave for the mission 2 hours ago!" Naruto screamed, jumping up on his feet and running towards the jounin.

"It's still good considering how long we've waited some other times." Sasuke stated, staying where he was.

"See. Sasuke is being reasonable." Kakashi said, his smile obvious even with his mask, but stopped when he actually looked towards the teenager in question and saw from his look that it was rather and accusation for the other times than anything else.

"Anyway, we're ready to…"

"Kakashi-san!" someone screamed, interrupting the man in question.

The whole teamed towards the voice, which turned out to be owned by an anbu that was hurrying to them. When he reached Kakashi, he gave him a piece of paper that the silver haired jounin read.

"What? I'm supposed to be replaced for this mission?" he asked out loud.

"Whaaaat!" Naruto exclaimed. "We don't get to do a mission!"

"Hum…No. You go with another jounin." Kakashi said, looking at him and the anbu. "What's going on?"

The anbu stepped closer so he could speak to him without anyone else hearing. Kakashi's visible eye grew wide and he gave a quick glance to Sasuke before turning his gaze back to the anbu.

"Where is he at the moment?"

"The hospital. Under heavy guard." The anbu answered, just loud enough for Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto to hear, though he didn't mean to.

"The hosp…" He shook his head and dismissed his own question with a wave of his hand. "Never mind. Just take them to the jounin they'll work with. I'm going."

With that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the anbu with three teenagers looking suspiciously at him.

* * *

Kakashi arrived in front of the room where the nurse had told him he should go. There was an whole anbu team just outside, one standing on each side of the door and the others standing near the opposite wall. The Hokage was also there, speaking to one of them. They seemed somewhat out of place inside the white walls of the hospital and everyone who passed by looked curiously at them. 

Tsunade noticed him and went to see him, a very serious look on her face.

"I hoped I could catch you before you left." Tsunade said. "I asked you to come for a few reasons. You're trustworthy, you know him better than most living people…and you're Sasuke's team leader."

"I don't usually trust criminals…" she said, looking at the door beyond which Itachi was. "But something obviously happened and I want to make sure we don't ignore a threat."

"What do you mean?"

"He was wounded to quite an extent. I didn't really believe the story he told me, but I don't see why he would have made it all up either…and he did get seriously wounded."

"His story?"

"Quite a story, yes. Involving demons…and the reason he killed his clan."

"I thought he claimed it was only to test himself?"

"He said he lied." Tsunade said, turning to face the door. "But I think I'll let him tell you all about it."

* * *

Sakura gave the anbu a pleading look, while Naruto seemed unsure if he should be happy or horrified and Sasuke gave the anbu a glare. In front of them stood none other than Gai, with his three team members sitting behind him. 

"Looks like you're lucky enough to get to do a mission with Gai-sensai!" Rock Lee exclaimed, smiling broadly to Naruto, who seemed to have decided that he was horrified.

"We're the lucky ones for finally getting a break." Tenten let out, looking worn out.

"I think maybe you were better off with the Sound…" Sakura whispered to Sasuke as Gai gave them a thumbs up.

The boy gave no answer, but his look, which wasn't unlike Naruto's, spoke volumes about how much he agreed to her statement. This would be a very long mission.

* * *

Inside the hospital room, there was at least two more teams of anbu. A woman from the Hyuuga clan was standing near the bed, looking at him. Nevertheless, he didn't really do more than notice her. His attention was more on the young man sitting in the bed, also looking at him. 

Itachi was in a sitting position, his back supported by a few pillows. He seemed bruised all over and had many bandages. He was also connected to a bag of fluids that were injected in his arm and to a monitor. One of his wrists was cuffed to the bed, but Kakashi doubt it would really stop him if he wanted to escape. The young man looked tired and somewhat pale, but his eyes were as emotionless as ever.

As much as Kakashi hated the young criminal and wished him to suffer, he was still shocked by the sight.

"Hn." Itachi let out as a greeting in a manner that reminded Kakashi of Sasuke too much than to his liking.

The Hyuuga woman nodded to the Hokage, who turned to Itachi.

"I want you to tell the whole story again." She ordered him.

"Why do we even have to listen to a story from him? He's a traitor and a murderer." Kakashi let out, his anger showing in his voice more than he had wanted to.

"Kakashi, please listen to the story." Tsunade ordered, somewhat angered by the two men. "Uchiha, just tell the damn story."

"Why do you ask me to repeat a story that you know no one will believe?" Itachi asked her in a somewhat tired manner.

"Just tell him." She ordered in a stricter voice and he did, knowing there wasn't really any way out of it unless he got away physically.

"So, what you're telling me is that some demons wanted to gain more power through your clan, but if they did they'd probably destroy the world or at least a good part of it. So you decided to kill them all, but didn't kill Sasuke or yourself for some reason you don't want to say." Kakashi resumed.

"I don't know why, but there's a lot of them, this time. Maybe they found another source of power, though they probably won't refuse a sharingan user if they can get one." Itachi went on, ignoring Kakashi completely.

"So, in the end, you did what you did for nothing." Kakashi said with venom in his voice.

Itachi looked at him silently while the Hyuuga shifted, looking somewhat disturbed.

"Yes, Kakashi. You're right." Itachi said, no remorse apparent in his voice.

"Many believe the Sharingan originated from the Bakyugan or from a similar source, but it's not true." He added to the information he had already given, surprising even Tsunade and ignoring what had just been said.

"You know more than what you say." The Hyuuga declared.

"Yes. I know more about this and about those demons, but I'm not saying anything else."

"What!" Tsunade asked angrily.

"I'll say all that I know if you accept to make an alliance against them." He sated, raising his voice, wincing in pain immediately afterwards.

"You want to fight with us? What do you want from us in exchange for that alliance?" Tsunade asked, feeling as if she was negotiating with another Kage over a peace treaty.

"I can't fight them alone. You don't have any knowledge to fight them. An alliance is beneficial for all of us." He said stoically, though he was beginning to seem tired.

"What about the Akatsuki?" the Hokage wondered.

"That's more information, Hokage-sama." Itachi replied stubbornly.

"Why would we want more information. If we don't believe you, we don't want any." Kakashi said, turning his back on Itachi as if to leave the room.

"Kakashi…" Itachi said, getting the older ninja to face him again.

Kakashi realized he had been careless when he found himself looking directly into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Tsunade and the other occupants of the room reacted as fast as possible, but even their small reaction time was enough for Itachi to do what he wanted.

Kakashi suddenly found himself in a forest, unable to move, and suddenly, something dropped in front of him. Its body mainly looked like a human's, but it had black spikes coming out of its spine and a, lizard-like, thin tail made of the same weird flesh, also abhorring spikes. It stood on the toes of it's black spiky feet like a feline and barbs came out of the bones of its legs. As for its hands, they looked human except for the claws on the tip of each fingers. It's head also looked human in its general shape, but small spikes marked the limit of it's jet black hair on its forehead and it's eyes were completely black.

(Author's Note: If you'd like to, you can see the image that inspired me. The address is at the end of the chapter)

It looked at him with his eyes shinning like a cat's and then attacked him. As its claws were only inches from his face, he found himself back in the hospital.

He looked around and Tsunade's fist only inches from Itachi's face as the younger man closed his eyes and re-opened them, revealing the black pools that were his eyes without the activated Sharingan.

"That was one of the weakest of them." He said, looking about to faint from exhaustion. "You'll probably see some soon enough."

With that, he let his head rest on the wall behind him and seemed to be slightly out of breath.

"We'll consider everything, but until further notice, you're our prisoner." Tsunade told Itachi. "And if you do something like this again, you'll be in trouble…unless you die from overtiredness." She added before leaving, followed by Kakashi and the Hyuuga.

_More of Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto next time…they're important in the story too. I'm just kind of slow to begin. GOMEN! _

Considering the story of why he killed his clan, if you didn't get it, here it is:

_1-There were some demons that wanted more power…and the Uchiha clan had something that could give them some (the Sharingan and the powers related to it) _

_2-If they got the power of the Uchiha clan, they become pretty much unstoppable _

_3-Itachi killed them all to prevent all that from happening _

_4-Nothing else has been revealed yet…he hasn't even really said how/why he decided to kill them _

_Hope this helped! There'll be more info as the story goes on…more action coming soon. Just got to get started. _

Here's the image that inspired me fore the demon. It isn't fitting for kids though, the "character" on it isn't wearing anything, but everything's pretty well hidden…I don't like hentai (porno), so if I like that picture it ain't showing much! However, since this site will probably consider this too much, I'm putting a warning to protect myself.

Just take away the parenthesises: http:(/)(/)fantasygallery(.)net(/)cleavenger(/)art1(.)html


	3. Chapter 3

**Invading Darkness**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, it's characters of anything else you recognize from the series. I don't make money out of this either, so that's it.

_I actually changed the demon's description in the second chapter. Here's the new version for those who had read the other one:_

_Its body mainly looked like a human's, but it had black spikes coming out of its spine and a, lizard-like, thin tail made of the same weird flesh, also abhorring spikes. It stood on the toes of it's black spiky feet like a feline and barbs came out of the bones of its legs. As for its hands, they looked human except for the claws on the tip of each fingers. It's head also looked human in its general shape, but small spikes marked the limit of it's jet black hair on its forehead and it's eyes were completely black._

**Chapter 3**

A calm and large river ran at the feet of a high cliff, almost hidden by the trees of the forest that ended there. A small group of ninjas wearing headbands identifying them as Sound ninjas stood at the edge of the forest, Sasuke standing in front of them as he faced the river. The boy turned his head to look at them and then turned back to stare at the river.

"Again…" he whispered, closing his hands in fists.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the rest of the events he knew were going to happen. He knew what was coming. He knew he couldn't prevent it from happening. It never worked and he had tried everything. However, the voice that he waited for never spoke. He opened his eyes, turning around to look at the other ninjas, but he found that he was alone and that the scenery was now bathing in a fog. He rapidly realized there weren't any sounds either.

He activated his Sharingan and looked around. Soon, he saw two shadows approach and took a defensive position, ready for battle. He frowned as two creatures similar to the one Kakashi had seen came out of the trees, standing on their rear legs with their backs arched making it look like they weren't really walking either on them or on all four. He took a few steps back to keep a safe distance between himself and them while he detailed him.

He was greatly startled when he unexpectedly felt a breath on the back of his neck and heard voices whisper his name on the wind. He took out a few kunai, threw them at the two in front and rolled away from whatever stood behind him so he stood a little more to the left, facing it. He saw nothing and he saw the other two demons slowly walk away from the corner of his eye. He gave them a quick glance and then resumed looking for whatever had stood right behind him.

"Sa…su…ke…" the voices whispered once more.

As he tried to move towards the two demons he could actually see, he felt the third one once more. He moved as fast as he could and turned to look directly at it. He found himself looking at what seemed to be Itachi, though his face was almost completely hidden by his black bangs as he held his head low. He simply stood there, not moving a muscle.

Pure hatred began to show on Sasuke's face and he began to make hand seals, barely resisting the urge of simply jumping on his sibling. Itachi finally moved as Sasuke began gathering energy for the Chidori. The younger Uchiha didn't used it right away and jumped back slightly, making a small gap between them.

The older ninja's movements were strange, not to say unnatural. When he began to walk towards his brother, it seemed as though he all his joints were dislocated, his movements were short, sharp and he turned the joints in almost impossible ways. (A/N: Think The Grudge or even The Ring at the worst if you haven't seen it.)

Sasuke was confused, but decided to attack ayway. As his fist was only inches from his brother, the other's arm shot up and caught his own without looking, his neck only twisting slightly in a weird, disgusting way accompanied by a sound just as sickening. Sasuke let out a gasp and Itachi dug his nails that were apparently more like black claws than anything else until it bled.

"Sasu…run aw…" a woman's voice was barely heard, sounding very far away.

"DIE!" Sasuke screamed at Itachi, ignoring the voice, and trying to kick his brother.

His foot connected with the other's leg, but Itachi didn't move an inch. His fingers began to go deeper in the boy's arm and he moved his arm, still in the same revolting manner, towards the young Leaf ninja's face.

"Sasuke…" the voice called again, sounding slightly closer, clearer and more urgent. "Sasuke…"

Itachi's fingers brushed on Sasuke's face and the boy could not help but shiver at the touch. The fingers moved to grab his hair in a rapid movement and held his face in place no matter how much Sasuke hit him. As Itachi began to move his head up, Sasuke stopped struggling. He felt as if his heart had been dumped into iced water. He felt an unexplainable, almost instinctive, fear creep up inside of him as the female voice kept calling his name, louder than the other whispers.

"ITACHI!" It suddenly screamed loud and very near…also very familiar to Sasuke, though he couldn't identify it.

He didn't take time to think when he found himself on the ground while Itachi was prey to violent convulsions and let out almost human groans and cries. He got up about to attack his sibling, the fear still there but much less present.

"Sasuke-kun!" he heard a different voice call in a worried manner, but he could recognize this one easily as Sakura.

"RUN!" The other female voice screamed, already sounding far away again.

With an angry scream, he turned around, ran on the water and began climbing up the cliff. He heard a splashing sound and looked down. He realized it wasn't such a good idea when he saw Itachi also climbing the cliff in his stomach-turning movements at quite a surprising speed for someone, or something, with such disorganized gestures. He looked back up and climbed as fast as he possibly could, telling himself it was only a dream. He was almost convinced and about to turn back to kick some ass when the other called his name. His voice was different from usual. It was as if his own voice was mixed with another one, lower and less human. The intuitive fear took hold of the boy again and his logical mind could not convince the rest of him that he could not die in a dream.

He grabbed the edge and pulled himself up. Just as he did, Itachi grabbed his ankle and the boy fell forward as it was pulled violently and strongly. He flipped on his back with the intention of kicking his older brother, but Itachi's fingers dug deep into his ankle and grabbed the other leg with the other arm and pulled as if Sasuke was nothing more than something on which he could cull himself up. Rapidly, he pulled himself up like this and soon his hand were digging into Sasuke's chest, his face still down and hidden. At this point, Sasuke couldn't move enough to really do anything anymore. He seemed paralyzed, though not because of the fear. It was there, screaming in his heart, but it wasn't that intoxicating. He could hear the woman call his name from far away. He looked away from his brother in hopes of finding a potential weapon and found none.

As he looked back, Itachi's head was at the level of his neck. The older ninja twisted it in a few movements and finally looked directly at his brother. His teeth were now incredibly sharp, apparently sharper than that of any animal's Sasule had ever seen, and his eyes were two black pools, no white left in them, dark ring below them. For some reason, the fear Sasuke felt became stronger than ever, though the face was that worst than the rest. Itachi dragged himself up to equal level by pulling and digging his fingers into Sasuke's shoulders.

"Uchiha…power…ours…soon…" Itachi said with his altered voice.

Sasuke could barely control his fear as his brother spoke. He wished he was still living the same dream than before. It wasn't so bad after all. As he thought this, Itachi's eyes changed into the Sharingan and the fear became a panic. He began trying to break free, but to not avail. He closed his eyes not to look into the Sharingan Master's eyes, which he knew could be devastating.

"We see you…We know you…" Itachi declared.

Sasuke shot his eyes open when Itachi plunged an hand into his abdomen and screamed when he pulled something out. Then Itachi bit his brother in the neck with ferocity, earning another scream.

"SASUKE!" a desperate female voice screamed, but Sasuke was in too much pain to even try to identify it.

Itachi pulled a chunk of flesh away from Sasuke's neck, miraculously not injuring the artery. His gaze met Sasuke's as blood dripped from his mouth. The boy turned his head keeping his gaze, which was blurry from the tears of pain he couldn't keep in, away from Itachi's.

"Ours…" Itachi said, his hands moving to Sasuke's face as the boy closed his eyes.

* * *

At the light of the morning sun, a duo of young ninjas and an adult one were gathered around another young one who was apparently asleep. Indeed, Naruto, Sakura and Gai were gathered around Sasuke who seemed to be sleeping and having a terrible nightmare. Sakura was looking for any injuries or sign of sickness, but couldn't find any. They had tried to wake him but nothing worked. The two teenagers seemed worried, but it was nothing compared to how they were about to feel. Sasuke suddenly let out a loud scream of pain and tears ran down his cheeks. As Sakura looked him over for any injuries, once again, a bite mark appeared on his neck as if an animal with very sharp teeth had bitten him.

"WHAT'S THAT!" Naruto asked Sakura, getting up in a bewildered way.

"Sakura-chan, do you have any idea what's wrong?" Gai asked the girl, who shook her head negatively as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"We HAVE to wake him up…" she said, feeling completely helpless as he friend seemed in great pain.

Sasuke still had his eyes closed, but he realized something had happened because he felt no more pain safe for the bite on his neck and felt like the person touching him was now rather protecting him than attacking him. He could also hear the forest's noises. The person slowly let go of them as he opened his eyes.

* * *

Sasuke found himself looking at a younger Itachi. He seemed about 12 or 13 years old and sat in front of him with his usual unemotional face. Sasuke's hand shot to his neck and he registered the fact the he was also apparently younger. He detailed his brother, but the boy looked normal. Not dislodged joints or anything of the sort.

"What was that!" Sasuke screamed angrily.

"I thought I had more time. I was stupid." Itachi said.

"I'll kill you!" Sasuke exclaimed.

Itachi''s expression softened and he smiled sadly at his younger brother. He nodded and looked away.

"Yes. It's a possibility, Sasuke." He said absently before getting up. "You should hurry, though."

He kneeled only inches away from Sasuke looked at the bite mark. Then he got back up and turned his back on him.

"I was wrong after all. They still want it." He turned around and looked at Sasuke right in the eyes. "Listen, I don't have much time to talk…You're going to wake up. Go back to the village!"

"Why would I listen to you, bastard!"

"I'm there." Itachi said, his expression blank once more. "Come and get me, if you think you're strong enough."

"I'll come and I'll kill you, Aniki!" Sasuke growled, spitting the last word as if it had a disgusting taste and he disappeared with that.

Itachi looked around and then closed his eyes as if he was extremely tired. He sat down on the ground, opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

"Sorry, Sasuke, but there's been a change of plan." He whispered.

* * *

Sasuke shot his eyes open and sat up as he did so, ready to fight or defend himself. He almost knocked Sakura over, but she got up and actually knocked Naruto down, almost making the teenager fall.

"Good job, Sakura-chan!" Gai exclaimed giving her a thumbs up as the three teenagers sweatdroped as they looked at him.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, coming to stand beside Sakura as Sasuke got up.

"We've got to go back." He said.

"We can't. We haven't finished the mission." Gai stated, but no one listened to him.

"I…I really better get back." Sasuke said, trying to find a reason.

Saukra sighed, realising he didn't really have a "good" reason to tell them and decided that she'd trust him. He had come back in the end, after all. Okay, so it took a lot, but still.

"Right. You should get a check up anyway!" she said gesturing to the bite mark.

"Let's go, then." Naruto replied. "This mission was boring anyway. Somebody else can do it."

"You can't…" Gai began but sopped as the three walked away. "It must be Kakashi's influence! Yes! That's it. After all, my team listens to me without the slightest hesitation or doubt!" (A/N: That's is point of view, anyway)

As they walked the way they had come the day before, Sasuke kept touching the scar, the only indicator that it hadn't just been a dream. But then, what was it all about. He was almost certain that it hadn't really been Itachi that had attacked him, but, then again, he didn't really know. Sakura kept trying to guess what was going on and wondering if she should ask him or leave him alone. Naruto also wondered about the bite mark, but he was extremely happy to go back and, hopefully, get Kakashi back.

_This time it was Sasuke who was OOC. I try to convince myself that since the fear was instinctive, that it's not that bad…but I do know it's not, deep inside. lol. I'm really sorry about this. It's my first Naruto story…okay, another lame excuse. Eheheh…_

_Anyway, please review! Tell me if there's something I could change, without being just mean, and I'll take it in account for the next chapters. Or if there's something you'd REALLY like to see and I MAY consider making you a favour. wink It's always fun to please readers._


End file.
